Advice for a Vegetarian Bride

Vegetable Wellington. Trust me, your vegetarian guest will thank you for this, lol. I wasn't expecting a vegetarian dish to taste so good, but when we had this at our food tasting last year...it absolutely had to be on our menu.

Be open with your caterer. Ours offered to make a meal for however many vegetarians/vegans were in attendance at our wedding. He had no set "vegetarian meal," he was going to use whatever was in season. However, I ended up being the only vegetarian, so I asked for a double portion of the salad and ate some yummy pasta. (We had a buffet dinner.)

I made a point to discuss options with my caterer - we have 2 vegetarians and 2 vegans that are family and closer friends, and a few other dietary restrictions (dairy, gluten free). I asked before I signed any contract to make sure my guests would have legitimately selected entrees and appetizer options - not just something they removed the meat from, or a sad salad.

What part of NY are you having the wedding - I'm also in NY - and some parts are very vegetarian friendly.

@Linds- Long Island.

(PS- our weddings are almost exactly a year apart! I'm 3/17/18)

I live in the Hudson Valley - where we are VERY vegetarian, vegan, dietary restriction friendly - but I'm getting married in Rochester. Lots of chefs in our area are from NYC, and moved here for a change of pace or ability to open their own restaurant. You may have similar luck on Long Island with a more "city" chef who is really good at true vegetarian meals.

It's a wonderful weekend to get married - no matter the year!

We are offering eggplant parmesean as an entree option along with chicken picatta. Neither me or FH are vegetarian, but when our caterer offered it at our tasting it was so delicious that we chose it anyway.

Check out http://www.eleganteating.com/

Ask about their vegan options

This is what we offered at our wedding

"Chef’s Toy Box Mushroom Risotto

Grilled Asparagus, Portobello Mushroom, Roma Tomato, Balsamic Reduction"

I think that's the first thing you should discuss with your caterer. Some caterers are fabulous about creating dishes for people with dietary restrictions, and some are not as good. Definitely do a tasting before you book them.

I am vegan and have never had anything other than pasta and veggies (usually overcooked and watery with no sauce), or pretty plates with only veggies. It's not exactly the fuel you need to dance and celebrate all night, as I am sure you are aware.

Why not bring your caterer a couple great classic vegan cookbooks (since vegetarians can eat the option but not vice versa) like Veganomicon, Tal Ronin's new one, the Millenium cookbook, and see if they can do something from there? They can also just sub in commercial seitan for meat and use olive oil instead of butter and cashew cream instead of milk or dairy. So some of their standard stuff might be easily veganizable. The chickpea cutlets in Veganomicon are super easy, reheat well, and can sub in for something like a picatta really easily. There are also vegan cheeses for things like lasagna, although the only really tasty ones are pretty costly (Kite Hill and Miyoko's Kitchen, Daiya melts but has a very processed taste).

Let us know how it works out!

I would make a point of discussing it with your caterer. I think if they know it's a priority for you they'll come up with something good for you.

Being the only vegetarian at my (Long Island also!!) wedding, I picked vegetable lasagna as my vegetarian option for the menu....along with the other steak, fish and chicken options.....a few non-vegetarians actually ended up ordering the veggie lasagna too and it was delicious! :-)